CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Thomas man is facing assault charges following a bottle-throwing incident early this week near the Salvation Army building in Market Square.
Demare Anthony Encarnacion, 28, faces charges of third-degree assault, simple assault and disturbance of the peace, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
According to court records, Encarnacion yelled profanity at a man sitting on the sidewalk outside the Salvation Army in downtown Charlotte Amalie early this week. He attempted to hit the man in the head with a liquor bottle after threatening to do so multiple times, but the man blocked the bottle with his hand, court records indicate.
Encarnacion then chased after the victim, throwing another bottle at him. The bottle missed but Encarnacion then armed himself with an umbrella that he grabbed from someone in the area and he pursued the man, who ran into the Salvation Army store, according to court records.
Workers barricaded the store’s doorway so Encarnacion could not get to the victim, according to court records.
A Virgin Islands police officer apprehended Encarnacion shortly after he fled the area. According to police, Encarnacion admitted to consuming “an unknown amount of Hennessy liquor prior to the incident.”
When officers arrived at the scene and spoke with Encarnacion, he was still behaving in a “belligerent manner,” the VIPD’s probable cause fact sheet said.
The victim did not have any visible signs of injury and refused to seek medical attention, according to court records.
“There doesn’t appear to be a reason why he assaulted the victim in this case. He was yelling at him and throwing bottles at him,” said prosecuting attorney John Barraco, who argued that these actions constitute a danger to the victim and the community as a whole.
Barraco requested bail of $25,000 with “security provisions as the court deemed necessary.”
At his advice-of-rights hearing on Friday, Judge Carolyn Hermon-Percell allowed Encarnacion to be released on $10,000 bail to a third party custodian, his cousin. He was also placed on a 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
Additionally, Hermon-Percell ordered Encarnacion to report to the mental health division of the Health Department for an evaluation for alcohol or substance abuse.